Roxas woos Taiwanese firm

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II hopes to convince Formosa Plastics of Taiwan to put in more investments in the country.

Roxas scheduled to meet with officials of Formosa Plastics today to discuss Formosa’s investment plans in the country.

Formosa Plastics is the world’s largest manufacturer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

Earlier, Formosa expressed its interest in investing in Subic Freeport.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Felicito Payumo had met with Formosa’s chairman Wang Yung-Ching last year about setting up operations in the Freeport.

Formosa had reportedly expressed interest in leasing 300 hectares within the Freeport for a manufacturing plant.

Rising concerns, however, about pollution from PVC manufacturing operations prompted SBMA officials to only accept downstream manufacturing operations such as textile, dyeing and production of yarns and polyester fibers.

As an alternative site, the Bataan Technopark was offered to Formosa.

The Bataan Technopark, formerly the Bataan Refugee Processing Center, is also managed by the SBMA.

Aside from meeting with officials of Formosa Plastics, Roxas also met with his Taiwanese counterpart to discuss trade and investment matters between the two countries.